


what's in a name

by were1993



Category: Super Junior, Super Junior-M
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-28
Updated: 2014-03-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 09:05:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1381756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/were1993/pseuds/were1993
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Freshman biology lab was not something Kyuhyun planned to do a second time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	what's in a name

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mitsukyu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitsukyu/gifts).



> It became a monster of a fic. I'm not sure whether this was even close to what you wanted... >___

Laboratory practicum for undergraduate sciences was more of a way to waste three hours twice a week than any actual study of laboratory protocol. It was meaningless pipetting, centrifuging, decanting and waiting. A lot of waiting.

 

Cho Kyuhyun stared at the shaking machine and resisted the urge to slam his head against the table it sat on, which wasn’t very difficult considering he didn’t know what strains of what bacterium were spilled on that counter.

 

Freshmen were not the smartest when it came to lab safety. He knows. He was a freshman once. And almost on cue, he hears the shattering of something glass and probably expensive behind him.

 

Kyuhyun sighs as a miniature panic attack gripped the class. Something about a mercury thermometer and about not swinging that thing around and oh, that smells like something burning.

 

The machine beeped as it slowed to a stop and Kyuhyun took his little tube out, walking around all the excitement to his lab bench. The other reagents were too close to the commotion so Kyuhyun sat on the uncomfortable stool and just watched the lab TA attempt to calm the situation.

 

Out of the fifty bodies scurrying around with _E.coli_ strains, one of these students didn’t belong. Hint, it was the one who sat alone not amused and unsurprised at the broken glass and fire outbreaks.

 

Bingo, Kyuhyun was the only junior in a freshman biology lab section. Did he fail biology as a freshman? No, quite on the contrary. Did he enjoy lab so much he chose to retake it? _Hell_ no. Then why was he here wasting a good three hours of his otherwise free afternoon? Simple, it’s all Henry’s fault.

 

\---

 

When Kyuhyun came to the University, he had been in biology.

 

His goal had been to publish papers, and the biology department highly regarded their undergraduate research. So Kyuhyun got his foot in the door freshman year, selling his soul to trichomonas vaginalis and Kim Heechul. At the end of his sophomore year, Cho Kyuhyun was the poster boy for successful students in the biology department.

 

He had his name on a paper, a small grant, two research topics, and a TA position at a time when only graduate students could do so. The department had been ecstatic with the possibilities their new golden boy could bring.

 

No one saw it coming. No one realized that Kyuhyun had changed his major over the summer and no one could have guessed he would go into a language concentration, or more specifically Chinese.

 

His advisor, Kim Heechul, didn’t seem surprised at all when he signed the program change form.

 

“With you leaving, I’m going to need a graduate student now,” Heechul grumbled, signing the formal paperwork. It had been summer and the older man’s wardrobe barely met the lab safety protocol. “Who’s going to do all my work for me?”

 

“Don’t torture anyone,” Kyuhyun commented, letting out that nervous breath stuck in the back of his throat. He had actually been a little apprehensive to see his advisor but surprise, surprise, Kim Heechul all but expected it.

 

“Whatever, get out of here kid,” Heechul ordered. He shoved the papers into Kyuhyun’s hands and shooed him out of the lab with a wave of the hand. “Say hello to Professor Hannie for me.”

 

\---

 

“So _Henry Lau_ , have you plated your bacteria yet?”

 

“Not another word,” Kyuhyun hissed. He turns from the commotion _still_ going on and to one of his closest friends and the lab TA of the laboratory across the hall, Shim Changmin. “What are you doing here anyways? Don’t you have your own freshman to torture?”

 

“ _We_ have been done for the past half an hour,” Changmin said with a pleased smile. “I’m here just to watch my best friend conduct experiments of the utmost importance.”

 

“You’re a wonderful person,” Kyuhyun says sarcastically. It’s still too dangerous to make the journey to the LB broth at the front of the lab. So he doesn’t.

 

“Thanks,” Changmin accepts graciously with a mock tip of some invisible hat. Kyuhyun rolls his eyes but he couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across his lips.

 

“Who’s that?” Kyuhyun asks, waving a lazy hand towards the TA. “I’ve never seen him around.”

 

“Zhoumi-hyung? He’s Dr. Kim’s new graduate student,” Changmin answers. “He came from China a couple weeks ago at the beginning of the semester.”

 

“Dr. Kim,” Kyuhyun muses out loud. “I thought Dr. Kim was on sabbatical, doing some kind of calligraphy study in China.”

 

“This is a biology lab,” Changmin rolls his eyes. “Think biology department. Not Chinese.”

 

Kyuhyun opened his mouth to retort he knew where he was but apparently he really had been thinking about his own Asian studies department. Changmin snickered, knowing and gloating about Kyuhyun’s confusion.

 

“Dr. Kim doesn’t teach Chinese and why are you calling Heechul-hyung, Dr. Kim?” Kyuhyun scowls. “He hates it when people call him doctor or professor.”

 

“But now he’s the lab director and therefore my boss,” Changmin responds, a mocking smile still on his lips. “To think you used to be the biology department’s golden boy. How sad would they be to know that their darling Kyuhyunnie burned all his bridges after abandoning all his research to study _Chinese_?”

 

 “And thank god, I don’t think I can run another Western blot without chucking it at someone,” Kyuhyun muttered, looking anywhere but Changmin’s smug face.

 

“While I’d love to stay the entire time and chat, unlike some with too much time on their hands, I actually have important research to get to,” Changmin announces, shoving Kyuhyun off his stool. “Have fun _Henry_.”

 

“Ha ha ha,” Kyuhyun laughs dryly. “Go purify your proteins.”

 

Changmin mocks salutes him and acknowledges the other TA before disappearing out the door.

 

Already on his feet, Kyuhyun picks up his tube of bacteria and heads over to the front of the lab. The previous commotion had calmed down considerably after the miniature fire was put out and all the shattered glass swept away. He doesn’t get two steps away from his lab bench when someone steps in front of him.

 

“Henry-ssi right?” the new TA, Jo—er, what was his name again—approached with a large ear splitting smile and a pair of mile long legs. “I’m sorry I never talked to you until now. I’m Zhoumi, your lab TA.”

 

Kyuhyun bites off the snarky reply—that might have gone something like _oh really now, you who lectured at the beginning of lab about the importance of plasmids and transformation is the TA, not like some random person who walked in and you know decided to share his knowledge, the world makes sense now, thanks TA Zhoumi-ssi_ —and tries to smile.

 

“Lots of students and not enough me,” Zhoumi laughs. “But nice to meet you Henry-ssi. Are you Chinese? Last name looks Chinese. You don’t.”

 

Kyuhyun opens his mouth and before he could stop himself, lies through his teeth, “I’m half Chinese.”

 

“你会讲吗?” _Can you speak Chinese?_

 

“一点点，我说的不太好.” _A little. I don’t speak it very well._

 

“Ah, why name in English though?” Zhoumi asks in Korean, tilting his head in slight confusion.

 

“I grew up in Canada,” Kyuhyun replies. The thoughts in his mind were mostly made up of expletives. At least now, it sounded more like Henry’s actual background. Hopefully the TA isn’t fluent in English.

 

“Canada? 加拿大?” Zhoumi repeats in Chinese only with stronger accents on certain sounds.

 

“对.” _Correct_.

 

“What do you study?” Zhoumi asks. It actually seemed like this new TA wanted to get to know Henry. Unfortunately or fortunately, Kyuhyun was not Henry.

 

Kyuhyun tries not to rock back and forth on the balls of his feet, and he knows he’s digging himself a larger and larger hole. He could only respond with whatever he knows of Henry and beyond what Ryeowook gushes about, Kyuhyun honestly doesn’t know much.

 

“Music,” Kyuhyun answers. Darn it, he wasn’t this inquisitive about his students when _he_ was a lab TA. All he cared about last year was whether he had fifty lab reports in his hands by the end of the week.

 

“Oh! I like music! I sing a lot,” Zhoumi smiles again. Kyuhyun pretends his eyes are naturally squinty and the enthusiasm behind those upturned lips didn’t blind him. “Do you sing or play instrument?”

 

“I play the violin and piano,” Kyuhyun stated. He fiddled with the tube between his fingers. Everything he’s responded with so far were things anyone who knew Henry Lau would know. If Zhoumi started asking about life goals and high school names, Kyuhyun was pretty sure he would fabricate things that sounded more like a video game character’s back stories.

 

“Good, playing instruments good,” Zhoumi nods and then points at the tube. “Should finish plating.”

 

“Yeah, good idea,” Kyuhyun nodded.

 

“Good meeting you, Henry-ssi,” Zhoumi beamed before walking off to talk to a pair of freshmen girls on the lab bench next to Kyuhyun’s. “See you next lab period.”

 

Kyuhyun finishes plating those damn _E.coli_ in a minute and walks out without saying goodbye.

 

It’s all Henry’s fault.

 

\---

 

Freshman year, Kyuhyun lived on campus. He didn’t know any of the other incoming students so he was randomly situated.

 

His roommate turned out to be, Kim Ryeowook, a sweet seeming music major who loved to use his hotplate to cook in the dorms. Yes, it was a fire hazard and no, the dorms did not allow it. But as long as Kyuhyun got a portion of whatever goodies his roommate cooked up, he wasn’t about to run to the resident assistants and tattle. Although it probably wouldn’t have mattered, Kyuhyun was pretty sure their RA Kim Youngwoon also got a portion of Ryeowook’s food.

 

Either way, they struck up an easy camaraderie pretty quickly. They weren’t exactly best friends per say, but Kyuhyun didn’t hate gaming to the sizzle of whatever Ryeowook was cooking. Ryeowook was surprisingly tolerant of late night missions as long as the lights were off on his side of the room.

 

Later in the semester, Ryeowook admitted to liking the fact his roommate wasn’t someone in the Conservatory. It was pleasant not to return home to someone stressed about the exact same thing.

 

Kyuhyun agreed. As much as he got along with all his classmates, there was only so much about proteins and bacteria that he really wanted to talk about. It was refreshing to hear about music theory and concert band.

 

This had cemented the agreement to move off campus together the next year. Kyuhyun was going to be in research day in and day out so he didn’t want to acclimate to a new roommate and living situation. Ryeowook seemed quite happy with the knowledge that he’d have the apartment to himself for most of the day.

 

They met each other’s friends—Kyuhyun swears that sometimes Changmin goes to their apartment not to see him but to eat Ryeowook’s food—and in all, were good friends.

 

So when Ryeowook brings back Henry Lau, a transfer student who played the violin as well as he breathed, Kyuhyun nods and doesn’t think much about it. Even when Ryeowook and Henry kind of became a thing, Kyuhyun shrugged and continued analyzing proteins.

 

Kyuhyun didn’t think that starting his junior year he’d get a nervous but firm request:

 

“Please attend my biology lab for me. I really need the participation credit or else I’ll fail. You know, Kyuhyun-hyung, you were a bio TA.”

 

“And why can’t you just go like every other normal student?”

 

“I made it on an audition show. It’s my only chance. This is like my dream,” Henry said earnestly. He looked Kyuhyun in the eyes and spoke so straightforwardly and genuinely in a way only Henry could.

 

“You can have one unexcused absence in lab. Just inform your lab partner so they can do your part as well,” Kyuhyun sighed.

 

“I don’t have a lab partner and I won’t be able to go this entire week,” Henry admitted sheepishly.

 

“I really don’t think—” but he’s cut off.

 

“Kyuhyun-ah, think of it as a favor to me,” Ryeowook says, pursing his lip. “I wouldn’t have told Henry to ask you if we could figure something else out.”

 

“…are you also participating in this?” Kyuhyun asks. Ryeowook nods and reaches for Henry’s hand. Their finger intertwine and Kyuhyun knows he’s on the losing side of the battle.

 

“I don’t think I could have gotten the courage to go for it if it weren’t for Henry,” Ryeowook confesses. “It was the first time I stood on a stage and didn’t feel like running off it. I think I can do this. This is also my dream.”

 

And Kyuhyun had always been weak against dreams and hopes and following your heart. After all, he changed majors to follow his. So he agrees.

 

“Just this week,” Kyuhyun had promised. Two three-hour lab sessions. He could do it. The suffocating hug he got from Henry wasn’t as painful when Ryeowook smiled, eyes shining with thank you’s.

 

Sometimes it was nice to be a good person.

 

\---

 

Kyuhyun was staring at the shaking machine again and once again resisting the urge to slam his forehead on the table. Not because he was regretting—okay, he was slightly regretting it—but this time it had nothing to do with Henry.

 

“You’re good at this,” Zhoumi, the TA, commented over his shoulder. A practice Zhoumi seemed to take on for the past two and a half hours. “Why not do biology? Seem to have good instincts for it.”

 

“Because music is my dream,” Kyuhyun say unenthusiastically. He had a long night reading ancient Chinese literature so he wasn’t at all in a good mood. In fact, his eyes swam with worn calligraphy and old syntax. Blinking, Kyuhyun almost curses out loud when two particular characters refused to disappear from his lab notebook.

 

周觅, Kyuhyun read and rubbed his eyes. What the hell does _Zhou Mi_ mean—oh. Kyuhyun looks to his left and finds the smiling TA leaning against the table with a pen between those long fingers.

 

Zhoumi grins mischievously and sticks out his tongue just a little—Kyuhyun stares at the retreating pinkness, leading to chapped lips and the question whether he needed more sleep. Kyuhyun’s eyes traces those lips down the chin and up a jaw line—yeah, he definitely needed more sleep.

 

“你会写你的名字吗?” _Do you know how to write your name?_

 

Kyuhyun rolls his eyes indignantly,of course he does. Kyuhyun wasn’t thinking when he plucked the pen out of Zhoumi’s hands and wrote down 奎贤, _Kuixian_ , next to 周觅.

 

“奎贤? 名字挺特别啊.” _Kuixian? Your name is pretty unique._

 

“我就是个很特别的人,” Kyuhyun muttered, not realizing his mistake. Although it probably wouldn’t have mattered considering Kyuhyun doesn’t actually know Henry’s Chinese name. “你什么事儿都完全没有吗?”

 

_I’m a very unique person. Do you have completely nothing to do?_

 

“It’s 你什么事儿都没有吗? You don’t need to say there’s ‘completely nothing’,” Zhoumi corrects and Kyuhyun thinks about it.

 

Damn, the TA was right.

 

Kyuhyun glances at the clock. It was about time, so he grabs his tube and retreats towards his lab bench. Only for long strides to follow him. Kyuhyun tries to walk faster but stupid freshmen have their damn stools strewn all over the lab. It was like an obstacle course and Zhoumi seemed to be faring much better.

 

“Can I call you that?” Zhoumi asks from a couple steps behind. “Kuixian? Can I call you that?”

 

 _No_ —Kyuhyun bites back the automatic response. This is the last lab section he’ll be around for and Henry definitely deserves it.

 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Kyuhyun responds with a smile that may or may not have been malevolent.

 

\---

 

“We did it,” Ryeowook whispered.

 

“We did it!” Henry yelled and gave a loud whoop.

 

They had made it through the preliminaries. They were going to the next round and the filming schedule had not changed.

 

Kyuhyun found himself agreeing to substitute Henry in lab for as long as their dream took them forwards. Until they won or were voted out.

 

It was going to be a long semester, and Changmin even had the decency to laugh at him.

 

\---

 

“奎贤, 你为什么不学生物学?” _Kuixian, why don’t you study biology?_

 

“Because music is my dream,” Kyuhyun responds. He re-suspends his proteins and walks to the front of the lab for more reagents.

 

“You don’t look at the instructions ever,” Zhoumi comments.

 

Kyuhyun puts down the pipette he just picked up and pondered loudly, “I wonder how much of P2 reagent I need. Let me go check.”

 

He walks back to his lab bench and picks up the handout with all the steps broken down and simplified. Zhoumi doesn’t follow him and waits for Kyuhyun to return to the front again.

 

“You’re smart and I don’t know why you don’t want to do what you’re good at,” Zhoumi pouted. “Heechul-hyung’s lab needs more people. Do you want to try research?”

 

“It’s not something I want to do,” Kyuhyun answers and tries not to laugh at the irony. He knows that Heechul’s lab needs more people. After all, he used to be the one who did the work of three people, and then he left.

 

“If you’ve never done it, you wouldn’t know,” Zhoumi continues prodding.

 

“How do you know that I haven’t?” Kyuhyun asks with a heavy sigh. He’s never liked someone following him around in lab before and he still doesn’t like it. Fortunately, when he took this course, his lab partner had been Changmin. Both of them worked on very similar wavelengths, only interacting to share results.

 

“You’re a freshman,” Zhoumi said wisely. It wasn’t a farfetched inference considering it was a freshman lab.

 

“Sophomore,” Kyuhyun corrected dryly. He’s asked Henry this before. “I transferred here and my previous biology course isn’t accepted here.”

 

“Oh, no wonder you know what you’re doing,” Zhoumi accepts easily. Kyuhyun finishes pipetting and decanting. Zhoumi doesn’t follow him back to his lab bench.

 

Surprisingly, Kyuhyun finds himself uninterrupted for the rest of lab. Without the constant distraction, he finishes quickly and packs to leave.

 

Kyuhyun pauses at the door for a moment, looking back. Zhoumi was trying to explain to some freshman why tilting the pipette more than 45 degrees was a bad thing. Kyuhyun opens his mouth then closes it.

 

He doesn’t say goodbye.

 

\---

 

“Are you alright?”

 

Kyuhyun blinks, focusing on his advisor’s face. He was supposed to be grading Chinese I quizzes and according to the clock, he finished two in an hour. Only forty more to go.

 

Hangeng, or more commonly known to his students as 韩教授 _Professor Han_ , was staring down at him with concern. Kyuhyun usually didn’t space out like this and he knows.

 

“是不是最近太累了?” Hangeng asks gently. He places a firm hand on Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “奎贤, 你要是觉得研究太累的话我们可以慢一点来。你学的挺快的不过连我读这些都会累。”

 

_Have you been too tired lately? Kuixian, if you feel tired, we can take it easy on the research. You’re a quick learner, but I even tire reading these titles._

 

“我没事儿--I, um, I mean, 我就--uh,” Kyuhyun groans. The Chinese was slipping out of his mind like water downstream, and the only person at fault was him.

 

Going to lab for Henry was not something difficult. Most of the experiments they did in freshmen labs were dumbed down versions of what Heechul did in his research. Kyuhyun merely went on autopilot, dodging careless students and spilled reagents.

 

It wasn’t going to lab. It was lying. After all, you have to remember every single lie told while there is only one truth. The truth was he wasn’t Henry Lau. He wasn’t a music major--he played the clarinet as a kid, not the violin. He wasn’t a sophomore transfer student from Canada--he was Korean through and through.

 

It wouldn’t have been so bad if Henry had been in Changmin’s lab section. Changmin would probably have allowed these absences and made Henry come in at different hours. And if Kyuhyun was still in biology and the TA, he probably would have just pulled a couple of strings with the department.

 

But it was Zhoumi, a new graduate student who might or might not be a stickler for the rules. It was Zhoumi who didn’t question anything Kyuhyun said. It was Zhoumi who actually wanted to get to know--somehow, that made Kyuhyun even more guilty for lying.

 

“Go home for today,” Hangeng said in Korean. He shuffles the quizzes together into a neat pile. “Take these with you and make sure they are graded by tomorrow afternoon.”

 

“I will,” Kyuhyun mumbles.

 

Hangeng ruffles his hair and smiles, “Don’t worry. We all have bad days. Surprisingly not all of them are Heechul related.”

 

Kyuhyun couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips, but the mirth didn’t dissipate the coldness settling into his chest.

 

“Surprisingly,” Kyuhyun echoes.

 

\---

 

Kyuhyun finishes lab in record speed. Zhoumi doesn’t speak to him other than saying ‘excuse me’ while squeezing by him and a couple of ill-placed metal stools. Kyuhyun is out the door in forty-five minutes.

 

Kyuhyun walks into Changmin’s lab section and sits at the TA desk. He stares through the open lab door and watches the other lab, catching glimpses of Zhoumi as he rushes back and forth.

 

“Today’s transformations,” Changmin said, sliding into the stool next the TA desk. “How did you finish so quickly? Did you intimidate your bacteria to uptake the plasmids with your laser eyes?”

 

“Ha ha ha,” Kyuhyun growls.

 

“Vicious,” Changmin comments. “Don’t take your anger out on me. I don’t even know why you’re upset.”

 

“I’m not upset,” Kyuhyun says, emphasizing each word.

 

“Does this have to do with Zhoumi-hyung?” Changmin asks and Kyuhyun doesn’t like that knowing smile on his face.

 

“No.”

 

“So I can close the door,” Changmin mentions, waving at the door just as Zhoumi walks into the hallway towards the stockroom. Zhoumi catches sight of the movement and waves back. “Speak of the devil, huh?”

 

“Changmin,” Kyuhyun sighs. He tries to formulate some kind of coherent argument--for or against himself he doesn’t know--but he gives up. It’s Changmin. He’ll probably understand. “Do you think I’m doing the wrong thing?”

 

“Being mad at me? Yeah,” Changmin retorted.

 

“ _Aish_ , I mean, is it wrong for me to be lying to him?” Kyuhyun asks. He fights down the justifications about how he’s doing this for friends and how he’s not actually at fault. It’s not like he’s never lied before, but it’s bothering him.

 

“Probably,” Changmin replies. “Is it ever right to lie to someone?”

 

“I lie to you all the time,” Kyuhyun smiles. He couldn’t help himself. “I let you think you’re pretty smart, but actually, I have my doubts.”

 

“Keep talking like that and I won’t tell you why Zhoumi-hyung is avoiding you,” Changmin scowls. “I was going to be a supportive friend but if I’m going to endure this kind of treatment--”

 

“Wait, he’s avoiding me?” Kyuhyun interrupted. All the worst possible case scenarios ran through his head, and somehow most of them ended with Zhoumi never talking to him ever again. “Why.”

 

“Demanding,” Changmin chides.

 

“Just tell me,” Kyuhyun all but orders.

 

“Since I’m such a good friend,” Changmin announces. “Apparently, he’s embarrassed that he assumed you were a freshman.”

 

“...that’s it?” Kyuhyun asks. “He’s just embarrassed? Not...angry?”

 

“Why? Did you think I told him you weren’t Henry or something?” Changmin questioned, looking slightly offended. “I hope you do realize that I am also friends with Ryeowook and Henry too. I’m not that quick to sell people out.”

 

“Oh,” Kyuhyun sinks back down into his seat, not even realizing he got up. And he feels marginally better.

 

He even nods his head in acknowledgement when Zhoumi waves at them again.

 

\---

 

It’s not even a surprise anymore when Ryeowook and Henry make it through to the next round. They were doing a stellar job and Kyuhyun’s never seen his roommate so happy.

 

Kyuhyun remembers when Ryeowook almost quit singing.

 

“How can a performer be scared of the stage?”

 

And now, Kyuhyun doesn’t think _Ryeowook_ remembers. Not with Henry’s hand so tightly grasped in his.

 

So of course, Kyuhyun is going to lab again. This time, he actually kind of wants to go.

 

\---

 

“周觅哥,” Kyuhyun greets. He purposefully got to lab early. It was easy to pretend to help other students but not when there were no other students.

 

Zhoumi’s smile falls as he looks up to see Kyuhyun walking in. It left a strange sensation, knowing that he could take away that smile. They stared at each other for a prolonged moment before Zhoumi speaks:

 

“我应该看的出来.” _I should have been able to tell_.

 

“You do know that I’m not offended,” Kyuhyun responds with a raised eyebrow. “That would have been anyone’s first assumption. This _is_ a freshman biology course.”

 

“I know, I just,” Zhoumi started to say but stopped. He looks down, shuffling some lab papers on his desk. “I just, well, I’ve heard that freshmen students are in need of most help. I probably bothered you a lot.”

 

“我要是不想跟你说话的话,” Kyuhyun scoffs. “我并不会跟你说话.”

 

 _If I didn’t want to talk to you, I wouldn’t talk to you_.

 

It wasn’t an understatement to say that Zhoumi’s smile lit up the room.

 

“Thank you Henry,” Zhoumi says softly.

 

And Kyuhyun’s heart plummets.

 

\---

 

“What’s wrong with you?” Park Jungsu, better known by his pen name Leeteuk, asked.

 

“Hyung, just let me mope here,” Kyuhyun mumbled into the desk. The art studio was mostly empty which in itself was an odd thing.

 

“You’re going to die of residue fumes if you keep your face so close to that table,” Leeteuk warns.

 

Kyuhyun sits up with a huff and stops himself from whining. Leeteuk was still in the middle of painting something--it looked either like a flower or a rotten log--and Kyuhyun knows better than to actively distract him.

 

The younger man only has to wait about ten minutes before Leeteuk puts his paintbrush down.

 

“What is plaguing your life now?” Leeteuk asks. “You’re no longer purifying proteins. Has Heechul been harassing you to go back?”

 

“He hasn’t been,” Kyuhyun smiles. “It’s good not working under Heechul-hyung.”

 

Leeteuk chuckles, apparently re-living some previous experiences that backed up that claim.

 

It’s been a while since he talked to Leeteuk. Back then, Park Jungsu had been working in the chemistry labs on some kind of synthetic material as a postdoc. And it was at the beginning of Kyuhyun’s sophomore year that Jungsu decided he was going to be a painter.

 

He packed his bags and was about to leave the institution completely when Heechul convinced him to stay. Kyuhyun was pretty sure Heechul pulled some strings to get Jungsu into the Visual Arts department but it happened.

 

Now Leeteuk paints in the studio and occasionally teaches a course in general chemistry or something like that. Honestly, it probably was Leeteuk’s departure from the sciences that spurred Kyuhyun’s.

 

“It’s not a bad thing,” Leeteuk had said when Kyuhyun admitted to not wanting to continue on in biology. “It’s actually better to realize this now than later like me. Can you imagine? All those years of schooling only to realize you hate everything you’ve done.”

 

And that’s why Kyuhyun comes back to talk to him every once in a while.

 

“I guess it’s still sort of related to Heechul-hyung,” Kyuhyun begins. Leeteuk nods as he rearranges his brushes. “So have you heard about his new graduate student?”

 

“Chinese, large nosed with a smile that splits his face like the Joker?” Leeteuk describes.

 

“His nose isn’t that big and he does _not_ look like the Joker,” Kyuhyun refutes. He doesn’t realize how defensive it sounds until it leaves his lips.

 

“Yeah, he doesn’t,” Leeteuk smiles. And Kyuhyun makes a face. “A diva-like bird told me that you’ve taken up an English name. One that is suspiciously similar to Wookie’s boyfriend’s name. What was it? Henry?”

 

“Heechul-hyung knows?” Kyuhyun asks.

 

“Well, he saw you in the freshman lab section when you’re definitely not a freshman or a biology major anymore,” Leeteuk shrugs. “Don’t worry, he also watches television. He sees Henry and Ryeowook on that audition show thing.”

 

“Does he care?” Kyuhyun wonders out loud. The answer came to him instantaneously: No, he probably doesn’t.

 

“Even though he is the lab director,” Leeteuk reminds. “He can’t excuse so many absences. From the crowd’s responses, Henry is going to have a lot of absences.”

 

“Are you sure someone like Heechul-hyung should be in academia?”

 

“Probably not,” Leeteuk chirps happily. “Too bad he’s tenured. Lucky bastard.”

 

“How?” Kyuhyun laughs.

 

“No one knows,” Leeteuk responded gravely. It was impossible to tell whether he was serious or not.

 

\---

 

“Kuixian, you really don’t have to help clean up after,” Zhoumi insisted, but Kyuhyun ignores him and continues to sort through the various LB broth bottles.

 

“Changmin leaves you to lock up the stockroom and all that fun stuff when it should be a two person endeavor,” Kyuhyun explains. “You should call him out on that. You’re the hyung.”

 

“It’s okay,” Zhoumi responds. “Changmin finishes early because he’s better at time management. Even though I’m the hyung, he organizes the labs much more efficiently than me.”

 

“Believe me,” Kyuhyun says deadpan. “After lab, that kid goes upstairs, sets up his gels and then sits there waiting. He can afford to come down and do some actual work.”

 

“You’re very close to Changmin,” Zhoumi observes. “You don’t address him as hyung.”

 

“That’s because we’re the same age,” Kyuhyun blurts out before he could stop himself. “I—I started school late.”

 

“Hm, pass me the bottles with the blue labels please?” Zhoumi hums. He sheds his white lab coat with practiced ease and rolls up his sleeves.

 

Kyuhyun does what he’s told and watches Zhoumi stand on his toes to reach the higher shelf. All six feet of the man unraveled, broad shoulders and slim waist. Those legs seemed to keep stretching out and becoming longer as Kyuhyun’s mouth got dryer.

 

It was the first time he’s seen Zhoumi without that billowy lab coat and it does no justice to the older man’s figure.

 

“I’m pretty tall and I still can’t reach it,” Zhoumi huffs indignantly.

 

“Just use the step stool,” Kyuhyun croaks. He coughs and tries to clear his throat. “It’s there for a reason.”

 

“There’s a step stool in here?” Zhoumi asks, clearly hearing this information for the first time.

 

“Behind the second set of shelves,” Kyuhyun responds, sounding much more normal. Zhoumi moves in that general direction, cautiously as though Kyuhyun might be tricking him. “See it?”

 

“Oh! Found it!” Zhoumi exclaimed, holding up the little step stool with flourish. “How did you know?”

 

“I used to—Changmin told me,” Kyuhyun caught himself this time. “Changmin told me about it.”

 

“I wish Changmin would tell me too,” Zhoumi sighs.

 

“You’re the hyung,” Kyuhyun smiles. “I’m telling you, just call him out on it.”

 

“Why would I do that when I have you?” Zhoumi wonders, shooting him a playful smile.

 

“I’m not always going to be around,” Kyuhyun says. He hopes the older man can’t pick out the somberness in his voice.

 

“Nonsense, Henry,” Zhoumi counters. He steps on the stool and hoists a couple of labeled flasks up. “You’re still a sophomore. I’ll keep bothering you until you graduate.”

 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Kyuhyun makes up some excuse to leave—he doesn’t remember whether he said he had a report due or that he was a reporter—and runs out the door as fast as he can.

 

\---

 

It’s an eight-week audition show and from their track record, it seemed as though Henry and Ryeowook were going to the finals.

 

Four weeks had passed and there were four more weeks to go.

 

\---

 

“I think you’re being stupid,” Lee Sungmin, a fellow language major with a concentration in Japanese, said.

 

It was three in the morning. They occupied a relatively quiet corner of the library and Kyuhyun couldn’t focus.

 

“Hyung, you’re the one with a test tomorrow,” Kyuhyun responded dully. “I’m here to watch you struggle.”

 

“Such kindness,” Sungmin mocked. When there was no snarky response, the older man pursed his lips. “You can tell him. He’s not going to be mad at you.”

 

“Tell who what?” Kyuhyun mutters.

 

“You can tell Zhoumi that you’re not Henry Lau and that you’re actually Cho Kyuhyun,” Sungmin says slowly as though speaking to a young child. “You decided to help a friend out and you’re sorry that you lied to him. He should forgive you because you really, really like him.”

 

“No,” Kyuhyun refutes immediately.

 

“No, you can’t tell him or no, you don’t really, really like him—which would be a lie,” Sungmin states. “Kyuhyunnie, you do know that pretty much _everyone_ knows?”

 

“There’s nothing to know,” Kyuhyun responds. He pulls up the journal article closer to him and focuses very hard on the words without actually reading them.

 

Sungmin sighs. It’s almost impossible to get Kyuhyun to talk when he was in one of those moods. Those moods in which he over analyzes everything and actively believes that all those worst-case scenarios he cooked up in his head already happened. For all Sungmin could know, Kyuhyun has already convinced himself that Zhoumi doesn’t actually exist.

 

“Okay, let’s just suppose for some strange and impossible reason you liked Zhoumi,” Sungmin poses the situation casually.

 

“I don’t,” Kyuhyun interrupts.

 

“This is all hypothetical,” Sungmin reassure with a mental eye roll. “Let’s say you liked Zhoumi and you told him. What is the worst that can happen?”

 

“He’s straight, he already has a boyfriend or he’s actually a jerk,” Kyuhyun lists off instantly.

 

“Okay, that’s not too bad. So let’s start off—” Sungmin doesn’t get to finish his thought when Kyuhyun has a sudden outburst.

 

“Or he could be all three!” Kyuhyun cries out.

 

A few heads turn in their direction and Sungmin smiles at them sheepishly with an apologetic hand gesture. Sungmin returns his attention back to Kyuhyun and regards his friend with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Really now,” Sungmin says. “Zhoumi could be straight with a boyfriend and actually be a jerk.”

 

“Yes.”

 

There was a long pause.

 

“Wow, that just sounds unfortunate for so many different parties,” Sungmin contemplates.

 

“And he’s probably asexual,” Kyuhyun supplies.

 

“Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

 

Kyuhyun was too tired to dodge the pink, bunny shaped eraser flung at his forehead.

 

\---

 

“我们爱的没有错, 只是美丽的独秀太折磨.” _Our love isn’t wrong, it’s just that the beautiful one man show is torturous._

 

Kyuhyun wonders whether Zhoumi would stop singing if he walked into the lab room. Uncertain, he stands beside the door and appreciates. He knew Zhoumi liked to sing, but he hadn’t been aware that the older man was actually good at it.

 

“她说无所谓,” Zhoumi held the last note for a bit before breathing in to ease into the next line. “只要能在夜里翻来覆去的时候有寄託!” _She says it doesn’t matter. As long as there can be some repose as we toss and turn at night._

 

The next couple of lines were muffled, fading in and out with Zhoumi’s busying about, but Kyuhyun leaned against the doorpost for a few moments more. He listened intently and smiled when the melody was interrupted by a curse.

 

“Need help?” Kyuhyun offered, swinging himself into the lab room and into view.

 

“Ah, Kuixian,” Zhoumi acknowledged. “No, I’m good. I just finished up. Everything should be good to go for you guys.”

 

Kyuhyun watched Zhoumi double check the labels and gels. He opened his mouth several times and a hint of a word disappeared as he closed it.

 

“You sing well,” Kyuhyun finally says.

 

“Thank you!” Zhoumi chuckles. “Were you outside listening instead of coming in to help me? Sneaky Kuixian.”

 

“I had to fight off all the animals that wanted to come in and help you set up,” Kyuhyun says nonchalantly. “If you keep singing like that, people are going to think we have a Disney princess running our biology labs.”

 

“Disney princess? Excuse you, the only Disney princess here is my lovely Anna,” a sharp voice cut through the lab.

 

“Dr. Kim!” Zhoumi greets cheerfully and Kyuhyun gapes in horror.

 

“I’ve already told you Seasoning, don’t use that stuffy title,” Heechul grimaces. “Hyung is enough.”

 

“Heechul-hyung,” Zhoumi amends. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I just wanted to remind you that I have to take the afternoon off,” Heechul says, walking past the petrified Kyuhyun. “They said they wanted to do another test of my knee. I don’t see the point. Honestly, it’s been years.”

 

“Better safe than sorry,” Zhoumi insisted.

 

“So, what’s all this about a Disney princess I hear?” Heechul smirks. Kyuhyun could have sworn Heechul’s eyes glittered with something dangerous. “Who is this? One of your students?”

 

“Ah, yes, this is Kuixian—er, Henry Lau,” Zhoumi introduces. “Henry-ah, this is the lab director, Kim Heechul.”

 

“Oh, _Henry Lau_ ,” Heechul exclaims in mock surprise. Kyuhyun resists scowling and Zhoumi doesn’t pick up on it at all. “I know you! I’ve heard that you joined a singing competition!”

 

Zhoumi blinks and turns to Kyuhyun with a hopeful smile. He asks, “You sing too?”

 

“Sometimes,” Kyuhyun admits grudgingly. Right when Zhoumi looks away, Kyuhyun glares at Heechul and the professor merely smiles like a cat that got the cream.

 

“I heard you sang a Chinese song,” Heechul muses. “What was it something like the moon represents my heart or something like that?”

 

Kyuhyun tries very hard not to strangle Heechul in front of Zhoumi. It was one of Hangeng’s favorite songs so most of his students learned a verse or two by the end of the semester. It made sense that it was the only thing Heechul could think of but still, out of all the gorgeous Chinese songs he could show off his voice with, he was now stuck with 月亮代表我的心, _the Moonlight Represents My Heart._

 

“Lab doesn’t start for a while,” Heechul mentions. “When you win the competition, we’re going to have to pay to hear you sing.”

 

“Could we hear a little bit?” Zhoumi inquires, his voice hesitant but eager.

 

“I suppose,” Kyuhyun acquiesces. He thinks about the melody for a moment and mouths the lyrics, skipping through a couple verses. He clears his throat and tries not to let the tightness of his chest spread to his throat.

 

“你问我爱你有多深，我爱你有几分.” _You asked me how deeply and how much I love you._

 

Kyuhyun smiles as the words roll of his tongue easily and notes completely controlled. Singing had always been a pastime that hinted at something more. Kyuhyun knew he had a good voice and he knew how to use it. He just never actually did, beyond school talent shows and friends’ birthdays.

 

“月亮代表我的心.” _The moonlight represents my heart._

 

He sings a couple more lines, finishing off at the first chorus. Kyuhyun hadn’t even been aware that he closed his eyes. He opens them to a smug Heechul and a dumbfound Zhoumi.

 

“You’re right,” Zhoumi whispers. “Your passion is music.”

 

“Eh?” Heechul and Kyuhyun echoed each other in surprise.

 

“Henry Lau, I hope you continue forth with your music education,” Zhoumi stated. “Don’t ever let me try to talk you into biology or whatever. Do what you’re most passionate about. I’ll support you!”

 

At least Heechul had the courtesy to wait until Zhoumi left the room—to grab some stuff from the upstairs lab—before bursting out into laughter. Kyuhyun was speechless.

 

“Oh my _god_ ,” Heechul screeched though peals of laughter. “Oh _Henry_ , he’s _so_ proud of you. I totally didn’t think, haha, oh god, I need to tell, oh this is hilarious! _He’ll support you!_ Wait until Hannie hears about this!”

 

“Hyung,” Kyuhyun says dully. “Not another word.”

 

\---

 

“So, Heechul told me what happened,” Hangeng mentions casually.

 

“Of course he did,” Kyuhyun mutters. He was currently sorting out the books and pictorials that corresponded to their current research. The other ones needed to be returned to the library or whatever other resources they borrowed them from. And they were probably way overdue.

 

“I’ve met Zhoumi,” Hangeng continues. “He seems like a nice guy. He doesn’t seem to be the type to overreact like Heechul.”

 

“You’ve never seen Zhoumi-hyung with a spider then,” Kyuhyun mumbles under his breath. Yep, half of these books were a year overdue. The other half had smudged out return dates stamps.

 

“I really think you should just tell him,” Hangeng suggests.

 

“I think you should leave me alone,” Kyuhyun whispers into the book stacks. He doesn’t actually want Hangeng to hear him, but at the same time, he really needs to have some kind of vocal retort. Even if it was to drown out the treacherous voice in his mind— _I know, I know, I should_.

 

“除了你和周觅,”Hangeng says. “大家都知道.” _Everyone knows but you and Zhoumi_.

 

“要是我和周觅不知道的话，那你不能说‘大家’都知道,” Kyuhyun scoffs. He’s slams a book down on its appropriate pile a little harder than he needed to. _You can’t say ‘everyone’ knows if Zhoumi and I don’t know._

 

“You don’t even know what I’m talking about,” Hangeng laughs.

 

“Then tell me,” Kyuhyun counters, annoyance coloring his voice.

 

“你喜欢他.” _You like him._

 

Kyuhyun pauses. The hard book cover doesn’t give away under his fingers and he only grips it harder.

 

“听不懂.” _I don’t understand._ In horribly accented Chinese.

 

Hangeng only laughs louder, and Kyuhyun’s hand hurts for the rest of the night.

 

\---

 

“That’s actually really smart,” Zhoumi mused.

 

“Of course it is,” Changmin says. “Hyung, pass me the electrodes.”

 

“I have them,” Kyuhyun interjected. He hands the equipment to his friend.

 

“Thanks _Henry_ ,” Changmin smiles. Kyuhyun wants to scowl at him but what stays is a smile.

 

“I didn’t think of starting their experiments first and then lecturing when we waited,” Zhoumi commented. “I sort of thought they needed to understand what they’re doing to actually do it.”

 

“We simplify the procedure so much that as long as they can read, they’re fine,” Changmin explains. “So it’s easier to just tell them to do steps one through seven and then lecture. Otherwise, during down time, they’d just roam around, breaking stuff.”

 

Zhoumi laughs and the sound echoes through the small stockroom. Kyuhyun managed to bribe Changmin into helping Zhoumi out. Not that he really needed to, Zhoumi seemed to have a particular knack for making friends with people in general, and Changmin was a person.

 

“Did Heechul-hyung advise you?” Zhoumi asks.

 

“Nope, actually Kyuhyun was the one who started doing that,” Changmin responded. Kyuhyun thanks all the deities he worships that Zhoumi’s back was turned to them. He swats Changmin hard on the back and the other stares back affronted but apologetic.

 

They gestured at each other wildly. Changmin was trying to keep Kyuhyun from hitting him again while Kyuhyun attempted to convey his frustration via silent screaming.

 

“Kyuhyun? I’ve heard of him from Heechul-hyung, but I don’t think I’ve ever met him,” Zhoumi says. Kyuhyun and Changmin freeze like deer in headlights. Zhoumi was still facing away from them, re-shelving pipette tips. “He used to work in Heechul-hyung’s lab right?”

 

“Uh, yeah, uh, he changed majors,” Changmin said. Kyuhyun gives him a warning look. “He studies Chinese now.”

 

“Oh, then he’s with Professor Han,” Zhoumi asks, completely unaware at the miming war going on behind him. “I met Professor Han. A very nice guy. Although, I don’t see how he and Heechul-hyung are friends.”

 

Kyuhyun pokes Changmin harshly on the side and Changmin turns to him, mouthing, “What else was I supposed to say?!”

 

“You could redirect the damn topic,” Kyuhyun mouthed back. Changmin blinks owlishly— _to what?_ “Weather, politics, world peace, proteins structures, stupid students, _anything else_.”

 

“Uh, some students are stupid,” Changmin says loudly. Kyuhyun winces at the sudden increase of volume but doesn’t comment. “Can’t believe how many, um, flasks they’ve broken.”

 

“Really?” Zhoumi responds, innocently following the conversation. “My students have been pretty good. They’re rough around the edges but getting better.”

 

“That’s lucky,” Changmin continues on with faked enthusiasm. “Maybe one day we should swap lab sections.”

 

“Sorry, I must decline,” Zhoumi says in a singsong voice. “Why would I let you have Kuixian, my best student?”

 

Kyuhyun flushes and Changmin wriggles his eyebrows suggestively. Zhoumi turns around only to see Changmin smiling and Kyuhyun on the far side of the stockroom.

 

No matter what Zhoumi tried, Kyuhyun refused to meet his eyes after that.

 

\---

 

“Are you really okay with this?” Henry asks. He looks slightly guilty but mostly elated. They made it through to the next round which meant another week. “I could go talk to Dr. Kim and I’ll just re-take this class next semester or something.”

 

“And let all my time go to waste?” Kyuhyun questions. He doesn’t even look up from his game.

 

“I—you don’t seem very happy?” Henry says but ended up sounding more like a question. Henry wasn’t as close to Kyuhyun as Ryeowook was, and it was quite an assumption to make. Still, Kyuhyun was doing him a large favor, and Henry hadn’t expected their winning streak to last this long.

 

“I never really look happy this late at night,” Kyuhyun chuckles. “Too tired to.”

 

“So instead of taking up more of your time with my lab—”

 

“If I don’t want to do something, you can’t make me,” Kyuhyun interrupts. He looks up from the computer screen. “I’m kind of enjoying going to lab right now.”

 

“I thought you couldn’t stand biology anymore,” Henry mentions. “Well, enough to change majors.”

 

“It’s not biology lab that I enjoy,” Kyuhyun confesses, and it felt good to admit it out loud.

 

\---

 

“Kyuhyun, I need you to do me a favor,” Changmin says, catching his friend before lab.

 

Kyuhyun quickly glances around the hallway, relieved when he doesn’t see any sign of Zhoumi. He turns back to Changmin and hisses, “Can you be any less cautious?”

 

“Zhoumi-hyung isn’t here today,” Changmin says quickly and frantically. “He suddenly called out sick and we can’t find someone to look over his lab section. Usually Heechul-hyung would come down himself but he’s already at his doctor’s appointment. For him to come back would take at least an hour so we’d have an unsupervised lab during that time. We can’t merge them with my section because it would be too big and I can’t possibly keep an eye out on a hundred of them.”

 

“So,” Kyuhyun considers, dragging out the vowel. “You’re basically asking me to act as the TA.”

 

“You _were_ a TA last year,” Changmin asserts. His tone got a little more desperate with each word. “You know the labs as well as I do, and all I’m asking is an hour until Heechul-hyung gets back.”

 

“You do know that technically—”

 

“Well, technically you’re not even supposed to be here,” Changmin interjects. “We only have ten, no less than ten minutes before lab is supposed to start.”

 

“I—fine, you and Heechul-hyung owe me big time,” Kyuhyun sighs.

 

“Thanks, we’re doing Western blotting today,” Changmin smiles in obvious relief. He runs off before Kyuhyun could get another word in.

 

“Western—damn,” Kyuhyun sighs. He hated Western blotting.

 

\---

 

Much later that night, Kyuhyun receives a text from an unknown number:

 

_Hi Kyuhyun-ssi, this is Zhoumi. I’m Heechul-hyung’s grad student. I heard you supervised my lab section! Thank you so much. I’m sorry that you did the Western blot lab. I heard from Heechul-hyung you hate that the most. Once again thank you! Let me know if you’re ever free and maybe I could buy you dinner as thanks!_

 

He then gets a text from Heechul:

 

 

\---

 

“That was very nice of him to do so,” Zhoumi gushed. “He didn’t need to help at all and I’m very thankful Kyuhyun-ssi agreed to supervise my section.”

 

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun responded. He was completely aware of the irony of the situation and thankfully, confused freshmen were confused.

 

“Kuixian, how was he?” Zhoumi asked. “Did he lecture well? How early did you finish?”

 

“He was a typical TA,” Kyuhyun responded. “He lectured and we got out about an hour early.”

 

“I still need to manage my time better,” Zhoumi hummed, biting his lip. “We finished half an hour early today.”

 

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Kyuhyun comments. He’s sitting on the metal step stool, watching Zhoumi label boxes and scribble happy faces with a sharpie. “It’s all about teaching the students right? It’s not about getting out quickly. You have your own method of teaching and I—Kyuhyun has his own methods.”

 

“You really need to work on your respect,” Zhoumi chuckles. “I think Kyuhyun-ssi is older than you.”

 

“Kyuhyun-hyung,” Kyuhyun says and he couldn’t help but grimace at the strangeness.

 

“你别把那种脸,” Zhoumi chides. _Don’t make that kind of face._

 

“Can’t stop me,” Kyuhyun retorts childishly. Zhoumi smiles and Kyuhyun returns it.

 

“He never texted me back about dinner though,” Zhoumi said, a slight frown pursing his lips. “Heechul-hyung told me the best way to thank Kyuhyun-ssi would be through food.”

 

 _And he’s right_ , Kyuhyun thinks to himself but he says, “He’s probably just busy.”

 

“Probably huh?” Zhoumi agrees. He looks up from his labeling. “Kuixian, do you want to go grab dinner?”

 

“Huh?” Kyuhyun responds intelligently.

 

“I kept all of tonight free just in case I got a text back, but since he didn’t, I was wondering whether you wanted to go get food,” Zhoumi explains. “You’ve helped me a lot too, setting up and staying late to clean up. So, I want to thank you as well.”

 

“O-okay,” Kyuhyun doesn’t stutter.

 

“Great!” Zhoumi exclaims. “Let me finish this really quickly and we’ll be off.”

 

“Okay,” Kyuhyun says.

 

“Actually, you know where Heechul’s lab is right?” Zhoumi asks and continues when Kyuhyun nods. “Could you grab my stuff really quick? It’s on the couch when you walk in. Black bag with a navy jacket over it.”

 

“Okay,” Kyuhyun says.

 

He walks out of the stockroom, treks upstairs and opens the door to Heechul’s lab. He almost walks right into Heechul who was walking out with a stack of gels.

 

“Kyu—my god, does no one pay attention anymore?” Heechul hisses, balancing the stack against his chest. He stops cursing when he sees Kyuhyun’s vacant expression. “…are you okay?”

 

Kyuhyun nods and brushes past him. He picks up a navy jacket and black bag—more like a large purse, but alas, he’s seen Zhoumi with stranger things—from the couch and turns to see Heechul smirking. Usually, Kyuhyun would probably have something witty to respond with but not today.

 

“Dinner with Seasoning?” Heechul leers delightfully. He gives an exaggerative wink before disappearing through the door, heading to wherever he had been. “Have fun!”

 

“Okay,” Kyuhyun says.

 

\---

 

Dinner hadn’t been anything spectacular. They went to a nearby Chinese restaurant in which all the waiters knew Zhoumi’s name.

 

Zhoumi in lab was not too different from Zhoumi out of lab. He was still all sunshine smiles and teasing eyes. Maybe a little louder and a little more comfortable, but Zhoumi still said his name in that way which made his heart just beat a little faster.

 

“Kuixian, this is really good here and my personal favorites are--”

 

Kyuhyun tries really hard to focus on the menu and the Chinese characters, but Zhoumi’s hands were much more distracting. They were thin but not weak--Kyuhyun has seen the older man carry lab equipment upstairs and he knows from personal experience that those metal contraptions aren’t light. His eyes followed a vein towards Zhoumi’s arm and traced the folds of his sleeves upwards. He pauses right at the juncture where the collar meets skin before continuing up--

 

“Kuixian?”

 

Kyuhyun’s eyes jump up to meet Zhoumi’s. The other man wasn’t smiling but didn’t seem upset. Zhoumi looked contemplative. For once, Kyuhyun couldn’t read the other’s gaze. Zhoumi was usually easy to read, his thoughts prominent from the tilt of his mouth or furrowed brows. Kyuhyun wasn’t used to seeing the careful control of Zhoumi’s facial expressions or the unsettling knowing in his eyes.

 

Kyuhyun doesn’t even realize he’s tense until he heard the crinkle of the menu bending under the pressure of his fingers. He lets go quickly and smoothes the wrinkles out, using it as an excuse to look away.

 

“Do you not like Chinese food?” Zhoumi finally asks in all seriousness.

 

Kyuhyun doesn’t hear the question correctly--it warps into something with the answer of ‘yes, I like you.’ Everyone kept insisting that he and Zhoumi didn’t know. Since Kyuhyun knows, the only person who doesn’t know is Zhoumi, and it sounded like Zhoumi did know.

 

“You could have told me,” Zhoumi pouts.

 

“What that I like you--” it finally clicked, Zhoumi was talking about Chinese _food_ , oh shit, “--r culture’s food?”

 

“You do like Chinese food?” Zhoumi asks, his brow furrowed both confused and amused at the same time.

 

“I do,” Kyuhyun asserts. He practically jumps out of his seat with his hands planted firmly on the table. “I really, really like Chinese food.”

 

Zhoumi was smiling but his eyes were unconvinced.

 

“我真的真的 _很_ 喜欢中国菜!” Kyuhyun insists. _I really, really,_ really _like Chinese food._

 

“你用中文说我就的相信吗?” Zhoumi questions teasingly. _Do I have to believe you just because you said it in Chinese?_

 

“当然,” Kyuhyun nods. “我用中文说的完全都是实话.” _Of course. Completely all the things I say in Chinese are the truth_.

 

“You don’t need the 完全,” Zhoumi corrects and Kyuhyun feels a sense of deja vu. That was the same thing Zhoumi corrected him five weeks ago. “It’s good to know that I’ll always be able to understand your truths.”

 

“我什么都喜欢吃,” Kyuhyun declares and begins listing all the dishes he’s ever heard of. _I like to eat everything._

 

He’s not even sure what some of those dishes were that he said but he knows he can’t stop. If he stops talking about food, he might accidentally say something else in Chinese. Something much simpler than the seven worded birds nest soup.

 

Something that sounded very much like: 我喜欢你. _I like you_.

 

\---

 

Ryeowook and Henry were talking about their next performance when Kyuhyun returned home. They had made it to the next week’s performance, and as the finals approached and the competition thinned out to better contestants, they knew they had to do even better.

 

“Let’s try out one of your compositions Henry-ah,” Ryeowook suggested.

 

“I’m not sure whether it would be good enough,” Henry counters. “We need a really strong performance next week and--oh, welcome back hyung. You’re late tonight.”

 

“Ate out. How did you guys do?” Kyuhyun asks, dragging himself towards the common area.

 

“Continuing on!” Henry crows in delight. He fist pumps the air and Ryeowook smiles. “It’s double eliminations next week. Since we’re getting closer to the finals, we’ve started brainstorming now!”

 

“Dedication,” Kyuhyun acknowledges. “If only you worked this hard in all your classes.”

 

“You’re the one to talk,” Ryeowook retorts. “You haven’t touched any of _your_ work this entire week. Are you thinking about changing majors again?”

 

“Why would you say that?” Kyuhyun asks suspiciously.

 

“Last semester you also slowly fell off the radar with all your science course work and started learning Chinese all on your own,” Ryeowook explain with a nonchalant shrug. “It’s not good to be changing majors so much your junior year.”

 

Kyuhyun laughs but reassures his roommate that he’s not planning to change majors. After all, there is no major that offers studies on Zhoumi. Not that he says _that_ out loud.

 

\---

 

Kyuhyun was staring at the shaking machine again but this time, he hummed along to some happy tune in his head and tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table. Five weeks had passed since he met Zhoumi, the over enthusiastic new TA of the freshman biology lab.

 

Kyuhyun wasn’t even sure what annoyed him about Zhoumi anymore. It actually felt weird when the older Chinese man wasn’t hovering over him, commenting about everything relevant and irrelevant. More often than not, Kyuhyun found himself looking for the tall TA in the sea of freshman. Zhoumi was pretty easy to find, and it was like Zhoumi always knew when Kyuhyun was looking for him.

 

Their eyes would meet and Zhoumi would smile. Sometimes, Kyuhyun would fight the tug of his own lips and other times, he’d just let the smile spread from ear to ear. If Zhoumi were busy, he would gesture apologetically but it never took long before Zhoumi was beside him. And if Zhoumi wasn’t busy, Kyuhyun would watch the long legged man stride over in very few steps.

 

“想什么, 这么高兴?” _What are you thinking about so happily?_

 

Kyuhyun rouses himself from his thoughts and turns slightly to see a bright smile. Zhoumi looks at him inquiringly with a slight tilt of his head.

 

“Thinking about what to eat when I get home,” Kyuhyun responds. It wasn’t as though he was actually going to confess that he had been thinking of Zhoumi.

 

“You and Changmin are remarkably similar,” Zhoumi laughs. “He pretty much said the same thing when I went over there to get a box of gloves.”

 

“Why didn’t you just get some from the stockroom?” Kyuhyun asks.

 

“Whoever was in charge of stocking up this week forgot to order more small gloves,” Zhoumi shrugs. “All the girls have small hands so they go pretty quick.”

 

“Hn,” Kyuhyun hums.

 

“Can I ask you a favor?” Zhoumi asks uncertainly.

 

“You can always ask,” Kyuhyun replies. “I can’t control what you choose to say.”

 

“Ha ha, so witty,” Zhoumi huffs. “Anyways, I have a friend coming in from China and I sort of need to leave right after lab. Do you think you and Changmin can clean up afterwards? I’ll buy you two food later.”

 

“Zhoumi uses bribe with food,” Kyuhyun chimes. “It’s super effective.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nevermind,” Kyuhyun chuckles. “Yeah, I don’t mind. Just make sure it’s good food.”

 

“Of course!” Zhoumi reassures and holds out his pinky. It was a childish gesture, but Kyuhyun felt something tangle in his throat when their pinkies intertwined in promise.

 

\---

 

 

Kyuhyun doesn’t keep in contact with a lot of childhood friends. It’s not that he doesn’t like them anymore or anything extreme. They’ve all just fallen out of contact and time did it’s job.

 

 _Ring_.

 

The only one he still kept in contact with was Lee Donghae, a fifth year senior at a neighboring university. Donghae was two years older than him but acted like he was seven years younger. Ever since they were children, Donghae had always been like that. A child at heart but a surprisingly perceptive child.

 

“ _Hello?_ ” The call connected.

 

“Donghae-hyung,” Kyuhyun greeted.

 

“ _Kyuhyunnie! How have you been?_ ” Donghae asked. His tone cheerful and bright. “ _I haven’t heard from you since you told me you were switching to Chinese. How’s that going?_ ”

 

“Everything’s good,” Kyuhyun answers. “I’m enjoying my course work. You?”

 

“ _That’s good_ ,” Donghae hums. “ _I’ve been alright too. Just a lot of clinic hours and studio hours_.”

 

“Aren’t you graduating this year?”

 

“ _Finally_ ,” Donghae moans. “ _But then again that’s what I get for trying to double up in physical therapy and dance_.”

 

“I still don’t know why you chose that combination,” Kyuhyun teases. He knows but it’s always fun to feign ignorance.

 

“ _Says the kid who went from biology to Chinese_ ,” Donghae grumbled. “ _Don’t be a brat and tell me why you’re calling. You usually don’t call me unless you want something or you’re going for something crazy_.”

 

“Nothing, I was just going to ask whether you’ve been watching that popular singing show,” Kyuhyun shrugs. He wasn’t planning to do anything crazy yet. “Do you still remember Ryeowook? My roommate? He and his boyfriend are on that show right now.”

 

“ _Oh, I thought he was familiar for some reason_ ,” Donghae muses. “ _They’ve made it pretty far. The violin boy dances well_.”

 

“Well, the ‘violin boy’ asked me to go to lab for him,” Kyuhyun says. “And I’ve been going to freshman biology labs the entire time he’s been on the show.”

 

“ _That show’s been on for more than a month_ ,” Donghae remarks, obviously surprised. “ _You’ve been going to lab for him for more than a month?_ ”

 

“Funny thing is the TA, this new graduate student from China, Wuhan to be exact, thinks I’m Henry,” Kyuhyun continues. “His name is Zhoumi by the way.”

 

“ _Well, if you are going as your friend, it seems quite expected?_ ”

 

“Apparently Zhoumi-hyung thinks I’m some kind of half Chinese Canadian kid who plays the violin and piano,” Kyuhyun rambles. There was something cathartic about letting it all go and knowing that Donghae wasn’t close enough to be an influencing factor. “He doesn’t even question the fact that my English name is Henry and that my Chinese name is _Kuixian_ , which definitely sounds more like Kyuhyun. Zhoumi-hyung apparently believes that my passion is for music--”

 

“ _I can see that. You sing well. You’ve always sang well_.”

 

“--and that ‘Kyuhyun-ssi’ is some legendary TA who can end lab an hour ahead of schedule,” Kyuhyun continues as though Donghae never interrupted. “I actually have Zhoumi-hyung’s number because I was convinced to supervise one of his lab sections on time, and Heechul-hyung thought it was a bright idea. Now I can’t actually give Zhoumi-hyung my number or else he’ll know that I’m actually Kyuhyun and not Henry.”

 

“ _Then just give him Henry’s number. I’m assuming you’re going to tell him the truth at some point._ ”

 

“Hyung, I can’t!” Kyuhyun exclaimed. He wasn’t whining no matter how much it sounded like it. “He’s going to hate me! Wouldn’t you hate someone who lied to you for six weeks and three days?”

 

“ _Oh Kyuhyun-ah, you’re making everything so complicated_ ,” Donghae sighs. Kyuhyun’s not sure whether he should feel surprised or unsettled that Donghae actually sounded like a hyung. “ _You know what, call me back when you two have gotten together._ ”

 

“Wait, what,” Kyuhyun gapes but Donghae had already hung up.

 

\---

 

“He just went to talk to some freshmen,” Changmin consoled. “Zhoumi-hyung will be back in five minutes. No need to look like an abandoned puppy.”

 

“I don’t look like an abandoned puppy,” Kyuhyun mumbled, inverting the tube in his hand to resuspend the cells. He slumped over the lab bench not even caring about all the possible spills that occurred on the contaminated counter.

 

“Neglected boyfriend?” Changmin offers. Kyuhyun glares and raises his hand in a threatening gesture. Changmin doesn’t even flinch. “What else can be bothering you but Zhoumi?”

 

“Am I bothering you?”

 

Hearing Zhoumi’s voice, Kyuhyun suddenly sits up and shakes his head, “No, not at all. Changmin doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

 

Zhoumi smiles in amusement but Kyuhyun could see the doubt ingrained in his posture.

 

“不是你,” Kyuhyun said firmly. “我最近有很多事.” _It’s not you. I have a lot of things going on recently._

 

“实话嘛?” Zhoumi asks, a little glimmer of mischief returning to his eyes. _Are you speaking the truth?_

 

“我不是在说中文吗?” _Aren’t I speaking in Chinese?_

 

“We’re in Korea, speak Korean,” Changmin protests.

 

“你活该,” Kyuhyun smirks. _Too bad for you_.

 

“I know he’s calling me something,” Changmin complains. “Zhoumi-hyung, what is he calling me?”

 

“秘密,” Zhoumi winks. _It’s a secret_.

 

“No, that’s you hyung,” Changmin retorts.

 

It takes the rest of lab and most of cleanup to convince Changmin that 秘密 _secret_ and 觅觅 _Mimi_ were two different things.

 

Yet when they do, Zhoumi cheers and pulls Kyuhyun into a hug, throwing his long arms around the younger man’s shoulders. Caught completely off guard, Kyuhyun flailed his hands around unsure where he should place them. 

 

“Waist,” Changmin mouths from behind Zhoumi’s back. The other TA even mimes the low hold with his own arms, clasping his hands together.

 

Frantic, Kyuhyun copies Changmin’s motions, encircling the older man’s slim waist. The action pulls Zhoumi’s body against his and Kyuhyun almost forgets how to breath. He prays that the erratic pulse of his heart wasn’t noticeable through all their layers of clothes and that he wasn’t breathing noticeably harder.

 

While it seemed long and agonizing for Kyuhyun, it was a brief hug and Zhoumi pulls back first.

 

“We work well together,” Zhoumi beams. His hands rested easy on Kyuhyun’s shoulders.

 

“Yeah we do,” Kyuhyun agrees. His hands situated gently on Zhoumi’s waist.

 

“Alright lovebirds,” Changmin calls from across the room. “Let’s wheel all this stuff back to the stockroom and call it a night.”

 

The sneaky TA had made sure to put a lot of distance between him and Kyuhyun. Not that it had mattered, Kyuhyun was perfectly content where he was.

 

\---

 

Kyuhyun didn’t often grab coffee at the university cafe. In fact, he never ventured towards that area of the campus unless he absolutely needed to. And in this case, he needed to.

 

Hangeng was playing host to a couple of potential new recruits for the linguistic department, and he sent Kyuhyun out to buy some drinks. It wasn’t as though Kyuhyun desperately wanted to run scantrons so he agrees. Not that he really could refuse.

 

There were several reasons he didn’t go to that area of campus. The most obvious one was the administration buildings were in that direction. No one likes talking to administrators and there are no classes held in those buildings. There was never a need. The newest and most pressing reason was that the graduate student living spaces were in that direction.

 

From what he understood, Zhoumi lived on campus with a suitemate. He didn’t want to run into the older man outside the biology department where everyone more or less knew what was going on. Even some of the freshmen were catching on, especially that one kid Minho.

 

So Kyuhyun walks relatively quickly towards the cafe, determined to get in and get out quickly. Waiting in line, Kyuhyun ponders the list Hangeng had given him and translates all the orders into Chinese just for fun.

 

“Kuixian!”

 

Kyuhyun steps to the cashier and blinks. Zhoumi is standing behind the register with a black apron and large, black framed glasses.

 

“You, how, what, you--,” Kyuhyun sputters. A hundred different things go through his head and none of them had to do with his actual task. “You don’t wear glasses.”

 

“Oh these?” Zhoumi comments. He chuckles and pokes a finger through the space where lenses should have been. “They’re just for show.”

 

 _You look good_ , Kyuhyun chokes back the words and pretends he’s very interested in the list of drinks Hangeng supplied him with. He shoved the list across the counter and Zhoumi picks it up.

 

“If you were wondering, this is my first day,” Zhoumi informs. He punches in some numbers and scribbles the orders on different cups. “My roommate, Kim Jongwoon, works here. He’s a graduate student in the conservatory, not sure if you know him or not, and he got me a part time job! So I’ll be here before lab from now on.”

 

“I see,” Kyuhyun responds. He’s caught between shifting his schedule to come meet Zhoumi before lab or using this new found information to avoid him. Then he frowns. Kim Jongwoon. He recognizes that name--oh shit.

 

“Zhoumi-ah, do you mind helping me with these boxes really quickly?” someone said, their voice muffled by the half open door leading to the back room.

 

“Coming,” Zhoumi calls back. “I’ll be right back, Kuixian! In the mean time, I’ll let Jia ring you up!”

 

A sweet looking girl walks over and politely finishes the exchange. She counts out the change and gives him the receipt. Thanking her and moving away from the cashier, Kyuhyun was on complete autopilot as his mind raced. Kim Jongwoon. He remembers that name. Ryeowook had the largest crush on the older man their freshman year. Kim Jongwoon and his turtles.

 

Kyuhyun leans against the counter with an organizer full of different packaged sugars and creamers. He was close enough to hear orders being called, but he was effectively out of sight from the cash register. Kyuhyun sees Jongwoon probably twice a year at formal music functions. He only attends those at the insistent pestering of Ryeowook and Henry and for good free food. Any other time, he wouldn’t mind striking up a conversation, but not with Zhoumi within earshot and Jongwoon out of the loop.

 

“What are you doing over here?”

 

Kyuhyun jumps at the eyes that peer at him over the glass separating the barista station and the rest of the cafe. Zhoumi was tall enough to look over easily, but the older man hides half his face behind his hands which gripped the glass edge.

 

It was something a five year old girl would do and Kyuhyun says so. Zhoumi gasped in mock hurt, taking such a dramatic step back that one side of his glasses fell off then tumbled to the floor. Kyuhyun laughs as Zhoumi disappeared underneath the counter and it seems like his little display had not gone unseen by the others.

 

“Graceful,” Jia teased. They banter in quick Chinese, mostly going back and forth about who’s more childish and who’s being mean.

 

“You two could be planning my demise and I wouldn’t be able to tell,” Jongwoon interjects. Kyuhyun ducks below the glass divider before the older man saw him. He squeezes his eyes shut and prays Jongwoon would suddenly remember to be extremely busy.

 

“Kuixian, what are you doing down there?”

 

Kyuhyun exhales in frustration. He looks up from his crouched position only to see an amused Chinese and a bewildered Korean.

 

“Er...hi, Jongwoon-hyung,” Kyuhyun greets tentatively.

 

“Hello,” Jongwoon returns. The look on his face was unreadable.

 

“I’m Henry, remember?” Kyuhyun forces out. He wonders whether it was more beneficial to tackle the man before or after the damage was done. “We’re in the same department.”

 

Jongwoon’s gaze flickers toward Zhoumi before returning to Kyuhyun. The older man smiles and Kyuhyun _knows_ he knows.

 

“Yes, Henry, I know you,” Jongwoon acknowledges. “Ryeowook tells me all about you.”

 

“He talks about you a lot too,” Kyuhyun says, keeping the conversation going. He was about ready to dissolve into a puddle of goo but somehow his knees stayed locked and so he kept standing.

 

“Well, since you are in my department, I will see you around,” Jongwoon nods. Kyuhyun cringes. Now that was trying a little hard. “I need to return to my work, Henry. See you around, Henry.”

 

“I didn’t know you two knew each other!” Zhoumi exclaimed still perched happily on the glass divider. Jongwoon had headed back to the storage and Kyuhyun’s eyes followed him until the door clicked shut. “Here I thought you spent so much time in lab that you didn’t socialize with people of your own major!”

 

“I do plenty outside of lab,” Kyuhyun replied. Staring at the female barista, Kyuhyun sends telepathic messages for her to move faster. He really wanted to just get out of here.

 

“Like what,” Zhoumi asks dryly. “Go online?”

 

“I’m not always online,” Kyuhyun retorts.

 

“Apparently, not,” Zhoumi agrees but his smile is much more playful to let it go. “Apparently you’re not always playing Starcraft or watching dramas or going through online stores--”

 

“I don’t have a car,” Kyuhyun scowls. “Most of the fun places are off campus. What else do I do other than play Starcraft?”

 

“No need to be defensive,” Zhoumi smiles, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m borrowing a friend’s car this weekend.”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“Probably downtown, maybe the mall,” Zhoumi shrugs.

 

“Sounds fun,” Kyuhyun comments. He stares down the last cup and wills the hot liquid to cool faster. Why would Hangeng choose an iced tea the cafe doesn’t have prepared already? Now he has to wait for the stupid thing.

 

“I was wondering,” Zhoumi says slowly. His hands are back on the glass divider and he’s rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Kyuhyun might almost say the older man was nervous, but what was there to be nervous about-- “Do you want to go with me?”

 

“Go with you,” Kyuhyun echoes. “Downtown?”

 

“Yeah,” Zhoumi mumbles, looking down at the floor. His false glasses were slipping off his nose and Kyuhyun watches them fall again. “Oh, 他妈的.” _Dammit._

 

“Yeah, I’ll go,” Kyuhyun replies just as Zhoumi bends down to pick up the fallen accessory. Zhoumi’s head peaked over the glass divider immediately, glasses forgotten.

 

“Yeah, so, yeah, you’ll go, you’ll go, right, you go?” Zhoumi babbles excitedly.

 

“Yeah,” Kyuhyun reaffirms.

 

“Can I have you number then?” Zhoumi asks, his smile almost as wide as his face. “So we can get in contact!”

 

 _Just give him Henry’s number_ , Donghae’s voice echoes in Kyuhyun’s mind. So he pulls out his phone-- “I never really remembered my number”--, scrolls through his contact list, and gives Zhoumi the real Henry’s number.

 

“Is Saturday good for you?” Zhoumi asks, still typing away on his phone. Kyuhyun feels like Zhoumi would be the type to have a cute nickname for everyone in his contacts. And he wonders what it would be if Zhoumi knew him as Cho Kyuhyun.

 

“It’s perfect,” Kyuhyun nods.

 

“I’ll call or text you before that and let you know exactly what’s going on!” Zhoumi declared.

 

“Your order is ready, Henry-ssi!”

 

Kyuhyun walks back to Hangeng’s office trying to convince himself the entire way that this wasn’t a date. It wasn’t. It really wasn’t. No matter how much he wanted it to be.

 

\---

 

The moment Henry stepped through the door, Kyuhyun accosted him.

 

“I’m borrowing your phone,” Kyuhyun explains, driving right into Henry’s jacket pocket. The younger man seemed alarmed but didn’t run. Not that he had much space to run with the closed door behind him.

 

“Uh, can I ask why?” Henry questions. He held his arms up as Kyuhyun patted him down. “My phone’s in my bag.”

 

“I need to pretend to you be this weekend,” Kyuhyun answers. He grabs the backpack slung across Henry’s shoulders and almost rips it off the poor boy. Going through the bag, Kyuhyun finds the smartphone and blinks at the case with a caricature of some round thing with eyes.

 

“It’s a mochi!” Henry answers as though that in itself should explain everything. Kyuhyun stares at him blankly. He pinches his own cheek. “Wookie thought it matched.”

 

“Aigoo,” Kyuhyun cooes. He pinches Henry’s other cheek, tugging just enough to make it uncomfortable. “It does.”

 

“Ouch! Abuse!” Henry cries. “Your roommate is abusing me!”

 

Startled, Ryeowook hurries out of the kitchen only for his steps to slow in amusement. Henry escapes Kyuhyun’s pinchers and hides behind his boyfriend. Spurred by some kind of exhilaration that has _nothing_ to do with Zhoumi, Kyuhyun chases.

 

None of them could really sequence out what happened in between Kyuhyun pursuing and all three of them falling on the floor. It was more of just a big muddled event of Kyuhyun trying to reach around his roommate, Henry maneuvering the smaller man around in front of him and Ryeowook trying to keep himself upright in his laughter. At some point, Henry sneaked Ryeowook a kiss and Kyuhyun dropped Henry’s phone. But exactly when those events occurred was up for grabs.

 

Not that it really mattered.

 

“We’re not even drunk,” Ryeowook gasps completely out of breath.

 

“T.G.I.F,” Henry mumbles.

 

Henry’s phone buzzes with a new text message. Reaching for the fallen device, Kyuhyun opens the message and smiles.

 

 _Kuixian, meet me at the café at ten? : )_ _Zhoumi_

 

Yes, thank god it’s Friday.

 

 _I’ll see you then_.

 

Since it meant tomorrow was Saturday.

 

\---

 

For someone who usually woke up around noon on the weekends, Kyuhyun was up early. Like six in the morning early.

 

“I’m not sure whether to be impressed or concerned,” Ryeowook states, leaning against Kyuhyun’s doorway  

 

“You should be helping me,” Kyuhyun mutters. He’s thrown the entirety of his closet onto the floor, including the shiny sequined speedo he received as a gag gift from Heechul. He’s not actually sure whether Heechul meant it as a gag gift, but Kyuhyun refuses to consider it otherwise.

 

So far he’s narrowed it down to three shirts and two pairs of jeans. Which was most of his wardrobe.

 

After a long deliberation, he eliminates the shirt with the Starcraft logo across the chest. It was a painful choice but that shirt had a hole near the collar. Kyuhyun doesn’t want to seem sloppy.

 

Two shirts and two pairs of jeans. Kyuhyun stares at his jean choices and considered the mess on the floor. He picks up one pair that seems nice too and places it next to his consideration pile.

 

Two shirts and three pairs of jeans. Oh dammit, back to square one. Just inversed.

 

“Oh here,” Ryeowook groans. Kyuhyun turns around just in time to catch a pair of jeans in his arms and a shirt with his face. “Put that on.”

 

Kyuhyun peels the shirt from his face and considers the outfit Ryeowook picked out. It was a plain white tee and dark blue jeans. He begins to question his roommate only to realize the smaller man had wandered into his room. Ryeowook pokes through the mess and pulls something out.

 

“Wear that over it and leave it unbuttoned,” Ryeowook says, his voice still thick with sleep. Kyuhyun takes the plaid button up and holds it up. Ryeowook shuffles out of his room yawning. “Just put it on.”

 

Kyuhyun opens his mouth but he can’t find any complaints. So he puts it on and it actually turns out alright.

 

“Huh,” Kyuhyun hums. He looks at the clock. It was barely eight o’clock.

 

\---

 

Henry arrives about half an hour later to pick Ryeowook up. They were going to the studios the broadcast station provided for them to practice and wouldn’t be back until late.

 

“And I’m leaving it in your hands,” Henry says gravely. He spent the past ten minutes telling Kyuhyun what he could and could not do with his cell phone. Mostly, Kyuhyun was not allowed to prank call his relatives or text inane English phrases to his high school friends. “I’m trusting you, hyung.”

 

“Famous last words,” Kyuhyun teases. He waves goodbye to the pair in the doorway.

 

“Don’t let me regret it!” Henry calls behind him as he clamors out the door.

 

Before walking out, Ryeowook gives him a thumbs up and whispers loudly, “Good luck and have fun!”

 

The door closes and Kyuhyun has an hour and a half more to wait. Alone now. Maybe he should chose which shoes to wear from his extensive collection of two pairs.

 

Black or darker grey? 

 

\---

 

Ten o’clock approached swiftly and silently. It catches Kyuhyun completely unaware and, as a result, he trips out his apartment doors and sprints to the café.

 

He was completely out of breath when the café came into view so he slows down, trying and failing to catch his breath. Kyuhyun hasn’t run like that since high school when it was mandatory, and it shows.

 

Thankfully, he stops heaving when he walks close enough to see Zhoumi though the cafe windows. The taller man was chatting with one of the baristas and even though Zhoumi was just leaning against the counter, the scene looked like it could go on the cover of a magazine. Kyuhyun steadies himself before walking in and holds up a stiff hand in greeting.

 

“Hey,” Kyuhyun greets, catching the Chinese man’s attention, and his voice slightly cracks. From his earlier exertion or just plain nerves, Kyuhyun isn’t too sure.

 

“Kuixian!” Zhoumi greets, waving enthusiastically. Kyuhyun swallows as the taller man strides over in his fitted blazer and slim cut jeans, making him look like he just walked out of a clothing catalogue. “I just got here not too long ago so if you’re worried, don’t be!”

 

“Ah,” Kyuhyun manages to respond.

 

“Do you drink coffee or tea in the morning or anything like that?” Zhoumi asks, gesturing to the barista station behind him. Kyuhyun shakes his head and notices the thin chain that disappears into Zhoumi’s shirt. He reassures himself that he was only starting because the necklace was shiny.

 

Zhoumi turns back to the barista station and waves his goodbyes to everyone there. Kyuhyun keeps his eyes very firmly on the other man’s back, not allowing his eyes to travel lower. He had no desire to see how fitted those jeans were. Nope, none.

 

The drive to the mall was much less of a struggle. Kyuhyun kept his eyes on the road and they chatted like they usually did. It was like being in lab again. Only with Zhoumi looking ten times better than he usually did.

 

Falling into their usual banter, they argued about who had the radio right--driver, Zhoumi insists, he was driving so he should be able to choose--and who was paying attention to the directions--both of them should have been but neither of them were--and what were they going to do when they got there.

 

“I didn’t really have anything in mind,” Zhoumi admitted. “I went once when I first got here and I haven’t been to downtown since.”

 

“We should go to the game store,” Kyuhyun suggests, smiling innocently.

 

“Oh dear,” Zhoumi laughs. “I guess that’s the only place we’re going today.”

 

But it’s not the only place they go. Kyuhyun doesn’t realize how much of a shopaholic Zhoumi was until it was too late. He really should have suspected it though from all the interesting clothes and bags the older man owned.

 

Three hours and seven clearance racks later, they stop for lunch.

 

“Shopping _is_ a sport,” Zhoumi insists after they were seated. Kyuhyun eyes the little mountain of shopping bags at the edge of the table and then Zhoumi’s skinny arms.

 

“Keep at it and I might believe you at the end of the day,” Kyuhyun responds. He reaches over and prods at Zhoumi’s arm. “How do you carry all that?”

 

“I have muscle,” Zhoumi scowls. “You just don’t see them under all these clothes.”

 

 _You can take them off, I want to see_ , Kyuhyun doesn’t say, and he resists the urge to slap himself.

 

“Oh hey!”

 

Kyuhyun jumps at the familiar voice and wonders whether he was hallucinating Donghae’s voice.

 

“I didn’t know you would be here!”

 

Nope, he wasn’t hallucinating. Kyuhyun watches fretfully as Donghae walks up to their table with someone--Hyukjae, Kyuhyun realizes as they got closer--in tow.

 

“Hi, hyung,” Kyuhyun mutters. Zhoumi smiles up at them and greets them with a nod.

 

“Henli-ah!” Donghae exclaims and pats Kyuhyun roughly on the back. “How have you been?”

 

“Henli? But that’s--” Hyukjae starts, and Donghae cuts him off. Suddenly, Kyuhyun was glad he called the older man before.

 

“Who is this?” Donghae asks, turning his attention on the Chinese man. Zhoumi begins to get up but Donghae shakes his head. “Don’t be so formal. I’m Lee Donghae, you?”

 

“Zhoumi,” he responds. “I’m Henry’s lab TA.”

 

“He’s told me about you,” Donghae says and then sighs. “Well, that’s unfortunate.”

 

“What?” Kyuhyun looks up at his friend and tries to mouth something along the lines of _go the fuck away_. Hyukjae suddenly laughs as some kind of realization dawns on him and Kyuhyun’s not sure whether he should be worried or not.

 

“Here I thought my adorable dongsaeng was with a new boyfriend,” Donghae smiles innocently. “From across the room, I thought you two were a couple.”

 

Speechless, Zhoumi sort of looks at the other man in embarrassment. Kyuhyun was screaming internally at this point.

 

“What are you talking about? Now if they were holding hands like _this_ ,” Hyukjae interjects, reaching over to place Kyuhyun’s hand over Zhoumi’s. “ _Now_ they look like a couple.”

 

Thoroughly done, Kyuhyun jumps up and attempts to shoo them away. Donghae laughs and pulls Kyuhyun in for a half hug.

 

“He might be more interested than you think,” Donghae whispers in Kyuhyun’s ear before letting go. Kyuhyun sputters, and Donghae leaves without much resistance, dragging an entirely too amused Hyukjae with him.

 

Kyuhyun couldn’t meet Zhoumi’s eyes for the rest of lunch.

 

\---

 

They return to campus before dinner. Zhoumi cleaned himself out with buying all those clothes and accessories and Kyuhyun splurged on a couple games he probably shouldn’t have.

 

“Your closet must be Narnia for you to fit all your clothes in there,” Kyuhyun declares as they reach more familiar roads. Driving back had been much more calm with longer stretches of silence. Even without the radio playing, it was comfortable.

 

“I don’t have that many clothes,” Zhoumi insists.

 

“Sure,” Kyuhyun agrees sarcastically. “Says the man who freaked out when he realized he wore the same sweater two days in a row.”

 

“I did not,” Zhoumi counters. “By the way, where do you live? I can take you home.”

 

“It’s not that late,” Kyuhyun shrugs. “You can just head back to your place and I’ll walk home. I live on the other side so I can just cut through campus.”

 

“Just let me or I’ll drive over there and wander aimlessly until you tell me where you live,” Zhoumi huffs, not sounding very threatening at all. He looks over to Kyuhyun and points a finger at the younger man. “I’ll do it. Don’t test me.”

 

“Scary,” Kyuhyun remarks dryly. “Are you going to mark me off on my lab reports?”

 

“I could, couldn’t I?” Zhoumi mock considers.

 

“I live on the street behind the psych building,” Kyuhyun says. “If you get there, I’ll just guide you the rest of the way.”

 

“So you fear for your grade,” Zhoumi laughs. He continues past the entrance for the graduate student apartments.

 

The adventure to Kyuhyun’s apartment could have been safer if Kyuhyun hadn’t given directions at the last moment, but somehow, even with illegal U-turns and swerving between lanes, they made it there safely.

 

“So this is where you live,” Zhoumi says, peeking curiously over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. “It’s nice for off-campus housing.”

 

“It’s alright,” Kyuhyun shrugs. “Anything is better than the dorms.”

 

“I never had to live in the dorms but I can’t imagine that communal bathrooms were fun,” Zhoumi says.

 

“I’ve heard that the graduate suites are good though,” Kyuhyun remarks. “I’ve only been in one once, but they looked nicer than the dorms.”

 

“It’s where my shower and my closet are,” Zhoumi admits. “I spend one too many night at the lab with Heechul-hyung. So the couch in his lab is more of my bed than my actual bed is.”

 

“Been there,” Kyuhyun replies. He’s been on that exact couch too.

 

“Being a music major must be hard,” Zhoumi muses. “I wonder how your course work compares to ours.”

 

 _I don’t really know_ , Kyuhyun thinks to himself, but fabricates some generic answer. He’s heard it enough times from Ryeowook and Henry that it comes naturally.

 

They sit in the car talking for many moments more than they probably expected. It didn’t bother Kyuhyun at the least. It wasn’t as though he was in a hurry to get anywhere on a Saturday night.

 

At some point, their conversation lulled into silence. It wasn’t an awkward sort of silence that made Kyuhyun want to climb out of the car as soon as possible. In fact, he wouldn’t have minded just sitting there and watching the skies get darker.

 

It had been a tiring day and Kyuhyun felt his eyes droop. He didn’t want to go in yet but he knew he had to at some point. At least before the actual Henry got home and walked right past them.

 

“Kuixian?” Zhoumi whispers. In the near silent car, it was loud.

 

“Yeah?” Kyuhyun replies, unsure what to expect. He really was getting tired and if they launched into any kind of discussion, Kyuhyun was pretty sure he would fall asleep. As much as it sounded worthy of some Korean drama, Kyuhyun did not want Zhoumi carrying him back to his apartment.

 

“Are you seeing anyone?” Zhoumi asks, seemingly out of the blue.

 

“No,” Kyuhyun responds more or less half asleep.

 

He doesn’t even register the question very well or think about why Zhoumi would be asking this. If he had, Kyuhyun might have bolted, but he was already half gone at this point.

 

“我喜欢你.” _I like you_.

 

\---

 

It took them six weeks but hey, it’s a first kiss.

 

\---

 


End file.
